switch
Pronunciation
- IPA: /swɪtʃ/[1]
Etymology
It is probably borrowed from a Flemish or Low German word,[2][3][4] such as Hanoverian dialect swutsche, a variant of Low German swukse (“long thin stick”).[2][4][5] Merriam-Webster Unabridged suggests Middle Dutch swijch “bough, twig”.[6][3] Etymonline traces it to a Germanic *swih-, also the source of German Zweck “aim”, originally “peg”, and perhaps related to sway and swing.[3] Early forms include swits and switz.[4]
Earliest recorded meaning
A slender tapering riding whip: 1592, in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.[2][7][6] It was used especially in the phrase switch and spurs, at great speed.[3][7]
Semantic evolution
A thin flexible shoot cut from a tree is from 1610,[7] about 1600 in Etymonline.[3] The verb, to strike or whip with a switch, is from about 1611, in Chapman's translation of the Iliad.[2][7] A device on a railway for moving trains from one track to another is from 1797,[7][2][3] first on horse-drawn railways, and a lever for making or breaking an electric circuit from 1865.[7] Etymonline cites Weekley that “the peg sense suits the mechanical applications”, and suggests these senses may have been borrowed again from continental Germanic.[3] The railway verb, to turn a train onto another track, is from 1853 in American English,[2][3] which led to turning a device on or off, of electrical currents by 1881.[3] The general sense “to shift, divert” is from 1860,[2][3] and “to change one thing for another” from 1919.[3] The noun meaning a change or exchange is from 1920, at first slang,[3] and switcheroo from 1933.[3] A long bunch of hair is from 1870.[3][4] In Yorkshire dialect to switch was also to make drunk.[8]
Timeline
- 1592 – a riding whip.[2][7]
- 1610 – a thin shoot.[7]
- c. 1611 – verb, to whip.[2][7]
- 1797 – a railway switch.[7][2]
- 1853 – verb, to shunt a train.[2][3]
- 1860 – to shift, divert.[2][3]
- 1865 – an electrical switch.[7]
- 1870 – a bunch of hair.[3]
- 1919 – to exchange.[3]
- 1920 – noun, a change.[3]
Modern meaning
Noun
- A device for opening or closing an electric circuit.
- A device on a railway for moving trains from one track to another.
- A change or shift, especially a sudden one.
- A slender flexible rod or twig, especially one used for whipping.
- A thick strand of real or false hair worn as part of a hairstyle.
- The bushy tip of the tail of certain animals.
Verb
- To turn on or off, or connect, with a switch.
- To shift, transfer or divert.
- To exchange: switched seats.
- To whip with or as if with a switch.
- To move or swish sharply: a cow switching its tail.
- To move (a train) from one track to another.
Word family
- switchable
- switcher
- bait-and-switch
- microswitch
- switchback
- switchblade
- switchboard
Related words
- switcheroo
- sway
- swing
References
- ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)